TiSA and state-owned enterprises Lessons from Uruguay’s withdrawal for other countries in the South

This briefing discusses why Uruguay withdrew from the TiSA negotiations, to show how under TiSA State-Owned Enterprises would be obliged to abide by commercial considerations.

It explains how TiSA seeks to limit the role of State-Owned enterprises as potential agents of productive and technological development, by expressly prohibiting the possibility of discriminating in favour of national suppliers. In Uruguay SOEs have played a key role in modernizing sectors that are strategic for productive development, such as energy and telecommunications.

Uruguay’s withdrawal is significant for other countries because it shows that it is possible and beneficial to break free from the TiSA process.